Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Red currant jelly

It all started with two huge bowls of red currants that Martin picked from a bush in the garden. The freezer was already full of them, so we decided to make jelly, which is to me the most natural next step for a picked berry of this kind. Alena who is also staying here, had done it before so she guided us along the way. No need for recipes when you have friends with knowledge!

It's really simple,
1. Boil the red currants (stem and all), in water until soft and a bit mushy.
2. Mash the berries through a strainer, making sure to get all the juice out of them. (We added a little bit of the cooking water in this step to make it slightly thinner).
3. Admire the colour, it's gorgeus!
4. Weigh the berries, and add equal amounts of sugar. (We used jam sugar with added pectin, which is not nessecary but makes the process easier). Bring to a boil and keep boiling until it had reached it's setting point. Test this by putting a small amount of the jelly on a cold plate and let it sit in the fridge for some minutes. Push your finger through the edges, if it wrinkles up it's done!
5. Can it.

I don't know about all of you people out in the world, but in Sweden we eat currant jelly with food, not only as a a sweet. It would be perfect together with this or this, both recipes from Our life in Sandarna, who cooked traditional Swedish food for a whole month last vegan mofo.

Where I am right now? On the countryside in Devon, England! There's three of us who're WWOOFing/housesitting a small farm with 2 horses, 2 mini ponies, 2 dogs and a chicken. When the weather allows we're having breakfast on the driveway, like above. My 5 month summer holiday is going pretty well, I must say. What are you guys up to? Anyone nearby in Devon or Cornwall?